TechCheck

Apple just debuting its generative AI system Apple Intelligence, integrated with chatGPT that can look across your apps to retrieve, compile and take action on information. But after some of the other tech giants’ flagship products faced backlash, such as Microsoft’s Recall and Google’s AI Overviews, should Apple proceed with caution?

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Silicon Valley investors held a mega fundraiser for former President Trump in the heart of San Francisco - what was once an overwhelmingly liberal bastion of America. It’s the most visible sign yet of a growing circle of tech elites switching camps -- and they’re vocal, emboldened and rich. This week on a special edition of  TechCheck, we go to David Sacks’ mansion, as tech shifts to Trump.

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A mega-fundraiser for former president Trump is about to kick off in the heart of San Francisco, what was once a liberal bastion of America, and could raise more than $12 million. Hosted by the prominent venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, the event is an example of a growing circle of tech elites now switching camps – turning against President Biden and warming to Trump.  

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It worked the first time -- Elliott Management might be hoping the playbook works again. It's now rebuilding a more than $2 billion stake in Softbank and calling for a $15B buyback after pushing successfully for changes in early 2020. At the center of the push is that Softbank as a whole’s market value is far less than the sum of its parts: its 90% stake in Arm alone is worth more than $100 billion, far more than its market cap of around $85 billion.  

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Elon Musk and Sam Altman are both now facing scrutiny for balancing conflicts of interest with their side ventures. Musk has now seemed to confirm a report that he diverted Nvidia AI chips reserved for Tesla, prioritizing getting them to X and xAI instead, while Altman has a sprawling empire of investments, raising questions of side dealing. The two are also CEOs who best exemplify the Silicon Valley view of the cult of the founder, with some investors willing to look the other way when developing paradigm-shifting technology. 

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Spotify is hiking prices for the second time in a year, raising a premium individual plan to $11.99 a month. But not all streamflation is the equal. Users are more loyal to audio services than video – plus Spotify’s main competitors are megacaps like Apple and Amazon, which also have other giant businesses that its audio streaming only compliments. 

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Google is doing damage control again, this time with its newest AI product. It’s scaling back an AI search tool it had unveiled just a few weeks ago, after users reported getting back questionable and even downright bizarre results. They included suggestions that it was good to eat rocks or to use glue to thicken pizza sauce. But the rollbacks might also signal a new, nimbler Google that's now willing to disrupt traditional Search and make mistakes.

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Salesforce's quarterly revenue miss and weak guidance has sent shares plunging today, as the threat of AI looms over the cloud. Could it be a trend we're seeing across software, or might Salesforce’s subscription-based model just be harder to justify in the coming age of AI, especially compared to consumption-based names that have posted stronger quarters? We talked exclusively to Box CEO Aaron Levie on the trends he’s seeing in software cycles. 

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New details were revealed today around the OpenAI saga that saw CEO Sam Altman ousted and reinstated within a week last fall. A former board member is now speaking out, pointing to a toxic atmosphere, psychological abuse, sketchy safety practices and more. That, along with a flurry of new deals that ChatGPT inked today aligns with the AI darling’s drive for commercialization and monetization, signaling the growing divide between OpenAI and other startups in the space like Anthropic. 

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Elon Musk's startup xAI is now valued at $24 billion after raising $6 billion in a fresh round of funding. The new raise is backed by a web of Musk's most loyal insiders – including venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, who also invested in his acquisition of X, but also includes institutional support from Fidelity and some new faces.

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